The way to the top from the Stock Exchange floor

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MICHAEL MARKS, 64, the chairman of NewSmith, was a “blue button” or clerk on the floor of the Stock Exchange in the late 1950s and worked his way to the top of the City. After heading Smith New Court, one of the Square Mile’s big three equities houses in the 1980s, he sold the business to Merrill Lynch in 1995 for £526 million.

Under his stewardship, Smith won a strong reputation for equities market-making and for “bought deals” — ballsy bets on huge blocks of shares. After the Merrill takeover, he stayed on, becoming first chief operating officer and then